Busy Week

The Place Family had a busy week.  We had fun and accomplished a great deal.  It began Monday with a great dinner and family home evening with the French Family.  The French's eat a very different way from the Place Family.  They are basically vegans.  The Place Family are carnivores.  Having said that we really did enjoy dinner and the company was great.  Paisley had a great time playing with their kids.

During the week I signed Paisley up for preschool that begins in July at Doodlebugs Academy and also signed her up for swimming lessons which begin tomorrow!!!!

I also got quotes on life insurance which is on my bucket list this year!



Wednesday the Beehives wanted to decorate cookies and take them to the inactive gals.  So we did.  I bought the cookies from Yummies because quite frankly I had no time and did not want to do them.



They turned out great.

Friday we went to the drive in to see Tangled.  It was fabulous.

Saturday George made us eggs benedict.  My favorite.  He told me to take a picture since they turned out so good.

I accomplished so much Saturday.  I cleaned the house, finished up my homework for the week, helped Grandma pick out the cake for Uncle Mark's birthday, shopped for Uncle Mark, began cooking 21 pounds of hamburger for the sloppy joe mix I was making for a retirement Monday, did our taxes, Skype'd with my sister, etc.

Here is Uncle Mark.  Grandma had a birthday party for him Saturday night.  It was a blast.  He had a great time.  All the family was there.

Here is grandma...I caught her off guard.  I love that the woman has the best hair in the world.  She has never dyed it and it is still brown.  Having said this I found my first grey hair this weekend.  I blame it all on Paisley.

Paisley all ready for church.  I love my little Hawaiian.

Sunday night for dinner I made swiss steak in the crock pot.  It was yummy!

Here is my final homemade sloppy joe mix for the retirement party.  Everyone loved it!

I hope everyone else had a great week.  Onward and upward. 

This weekend was pretty busy.  We began Friday night by cleaning out our spare room to make it into a Man Cave for George.  Here is Jeneva helping her uncle George.  We removed the queen bed and bought a futon bed/couch so we could still have a guest room.  Then we are going to get another flat screen t.v. so they can do all their gaming in the Man Cave. 

As you can see our tempurpedic beds arrived.  They look like hospital beds, but feel so good.  Here is George trying out the ergo base.  Now to find the perfect headboard and we are good to go.

Paisley enjoying my side of the bed.

Here is our new futon/couch.  The room is still not finished, but it is getting there.

Saturday night we were invited over to our friend Tallie's home for dinner and games.  There were about 5 couples and we had a blast.  We made wantons and spinach dip to share. 

We had a blast playing a game called Cranium and another called Creationary where you use legos.  Fun times and good laughs.  Here is Amy and Ryan working as a great team. They ended up beating us all.  Thanks Tallie!

Anniversary Weekend

Paisley took this picture of her daddy.

She took this picture of Abbey too.

Friday was our anniversary and we took the day off to go shopping and bed hunting.  I picked up these 3 pairs of shoes among a few other things.  We then went to try out beds and to out to lunch.  We had a great day.

George picked up this bathing suit at Old Navy for Paisley.  She is ready to go hot tubbing in this picture.

Saturday night I had a fabulous Girls Night Out with 6 other lovely ladies.  We laughed and laughed!!!!

Sunday morning we had a great visit with George's mom...she came up to see us before church. 

Then Sunday after church mom took Paisley-so George and I could get away for the night.  We went to Semiahmoo near the border.  It was really nice and quiet.  Normally we would head to Seattle for some night life, but this time we thought we would just relax. 

Here is my fabulous husband in front of the resort.  I had a fabulous Monday beginning with a hour long Swedish massage and then followed by a pedicure.  George is so good to me.  I loved it. 

On our way home we stopped at Trader Joes for some goodies.  These are the best!

And then to buy our new bed!!!!  We bought a tempur-pedic European King Size (for George of course) with the ergo base that moves you up and down.  Love it...can't wait to get it...it is going to be delivered this weekend!

Then home to pick up our little monster and give her tons of hugs and kisses.

Monday we also had a fabulous family dinner with mom, nieces and my two brothers.

Love family and Love my husband-Happy Anniversary George!!!  

Paula Dean Donuts

The Beehives wanted to learn how to make donuts for our activity last week....so we made donuts.

I brought all 12 of them to my house for some donut making 101.  We had a blast.

Kyanne told me about this recipe from Paula Dean and how she makes them out of grand biscuits.  They were super easy and super good.  We fried them up and glazed them and decorated them. 
Each girl had a turn at the fry pan and also took a plate home to share.
Fun times!!!

Here is the recipe for those that of you that would like to try them.  Note: get the buttermilk buscuits...we tried the flaky ones too and they were a little different to use.

Canned Biscuit Dough Donuts and Holes

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen
16 to 20 serving
Ingredients
Peanut oil, for frying
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar

Icings:
2 cups confectioners' sugar, divided
5 tablespoons milk, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cans large buttermilk biscuits
Colored sprinkles
Chocolate sprinkles

Directions

Heat 2 inches peanut oil in a large pot or Dutch oven to 350 degrees F.

In a shallow bowl, stir together the ground cinnamon and sugar and set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together 1 cup of confectioners' sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, set aside. This is the vanilla icing. In another bowl, whisk together 1 cup of confectioners' sugar, 1/4 cup of cocoa powder and 3 tablespoons of milk and set aside. This is the chocolate icing.


Lay out the biscuits on a cutting board and with a 1 1/2-inch round cookie or biscuit cutter, cut out a hole from the middle of each biscuit. Fry them in the oil until golden and then flip with tongs to fry the other side. You can even fry the donut holes. Drain on paper towels and then toss in the cinnamon-sugar or ice and decorate with sprinkles, as desired.

Mommy Daughter Weekend

This weekend George went to the cabin to do some Winter work.  He left Friday and came back Sunday.
While he was gone us girls played and played and played.
Friday we had lovely Valerie over for a play date.
They had a bunch of fun with playdough.
Thanks Valerie for coming over and putting up with Paisley.

I could not pull them away from the playdough for 2 1/2 hours.

Saturday was cleaning day.  I began with scrubbing the bathroom and cleaning the hall closet all before 9am.
Then I did laundry, cleaned the kitchen, swept and mopped the floor, cleaned the bedrooms, etc.

Paisley took an early nap so I decided to finish my history class reading.
I am ready to go now.

Saturday was a lot of coloring.

She had a good day.  Not too many time outs.

Saturday we also made bear claws. 
We made a double batch so I had to give some away to Melissa, Kona, Tallie and Tony.

My little helper.

I also had some banannas so I made a bannana bread too.

Sunday we had a great dinner at the Walton's
and a little mahjong competition in which David won.

Thanks Walton's-we love ya!!!!

Happy New Year 2011

Happy New Year Everyone!
I pray that you have a fabulous year full of fun and joy and blessings.
We went out to dinner as we do every New Years Eve with 3 other couples.
We had a blast as usual and ate way too much.
We went to Ivars in Mulkiteo again...excellent service and excellent food.
I had the filet mignon with blue cheese sauce....all I have to say is Yum.

George had white salmon. 
Sorry the pictures are so bad...they were off of my blackberry.
Not the best.

While we were at dinner the girls had their own New Years Eve party
with my brother Michael and his girlfriend supervising.

I bought the girls hats, horns and more.  They had a blast.

Michael and Jamie had fun too.

Saturday was pretty quiet..I hit the gym bright and early to get in my first work out of the year.
Felt Great!!!
Sunday was another story.  It was Paisley's first day out of the nursery and into Primary.

So, she put on her new 1st day of primary dress that Uncle Kona picked up for me
at GAP for half off-Thanks Kona!!!

She looked so cute!!!

And off we went to church.  Love this gal.
We are on a new hour where church starts at 1pm and goes until 4pm.
I have to say I really really dislike this one.
Paisley was miserable and so was I.
We made it through and before we even drove away from the church she was out!

My poor mom had 9 kids in her class and Paisley is one of them.
She has the patience of a saint.
I don't know how she does it and frankly I don't want to know how either.
Probably lots of practice since she had 5 of her own.

Anyways-We had a great weekend and now back to the daily grind.

Wishing you again a wonderful New 2011 Year!

Christmas 2010

We had a fabulous Christmas.  What a weekend.  Tons of fun with family and friends.  Here we are at mom's house Christmas Eve. 

Having our Christmas graze at moms.

Paisley was my brother Michaels helper that night.

My youngest brother Michael being Santa.

Jeneva received some great things from Spain.  This is for you Diana.

Paisley helping my other brother Steven open his gifts.

Paisley's favorite Christmas present are these pair of skates that aunt Christine and uncle Thomas gave her.  We can't keep them off her feet.

My favorite gift...my new Nike free run shoes.  They are so comfortable!!!!

My other favorite is my new yoga sandals.  Yes, I do enjoy yoga, but have not been for awhile.   They help with posture and balance.  In addition, they will be great for my monthly pedicures.  They have straps between each toe.  Very comfortable!  George gave them both to me along with some dvds I had been wanting and 5 new pride and prejudice sequel books.  Love ya!

Paisley with her stocking.

And this is also part of her stocking.  George was tasked with the stocking stuffers and this is what he bought.  Needless to say they did not fit into her stocking and his theme is pretty obvious.

Christmas morning we opened more presents.

Played with Daddy's new motion sensor stuff for his Playstation 3.  They were having a ball.

More roller skating.

I gave these to Paisley.  They are so cool.  I stood in line for these babies and they are worth it.

Paisley has such great friends that love her.  Valerie stopped by to give her this doll she just loves for her birthday present.  Thanks Valerie-we love ya!

Paisley's best friend Amira gave her these too cute hair bands.  Thanks Amira we love ya too!  Come over soon to play.

Paisley's big gift was this v tech bike game.  It hooks to the tv and she has to get a work out by pedaling.  She will also learn letters, number, colors, shapes, etc.  We can't keep her off of it.

For breakfast daddy made us monkey bread and our favorite neighbor and friend Donna Barrett gave us yummy bear claws to enjoy.  Thanks for letting me come over and spend some time with you Donna and Gus!

Saturday morning we headed down to Belfair where George's mom and Papa Nick live.  Here is Paisley helping papa Nick.

Now the pictures are out of order, but it still works.  Melissa brought along cookies and decor to have a cookie decorating competition.  Here we are making our cookies.

Here is my contribution and entry!  Love it. Great idea Melissa!

George even participated.  He is really good.

George made this for Paisley.

We could not get her off of this horse. 

I had to add this in.  This is the first time she was on the horse.  She is so grown up.  I miss the baby days already.
We had such a great time.

On our way home we were able to ride the new ferry and have Ivar's clam chowder.  So good and the ferry was nice too.  By this time you can see in her face she is wiped out.  She slept really good.

Papa Nick made us fried bread for breakfast.  My favorite.  Yum!

Papa Nick also gave Paisley a new kitty.  It looks real, but it is not.  She has it safely in her room.  Thank you Papa!

Here we are unwrapping Christmas gifts.

Paisley helping everyone with their gifts.

She loves her snow boots uncle Kona!

Trying on grandma's funny hat.

She is so spoiled and loved.

We had a fabulous Christmas.  To top it off when we got home we had a surprise visit from Kekaula and her husband Leonard.  She was visiting from Hawaii and stopped by.  Such a great treat.

We are so blessed and so thankful to all of family and friends that spoil us, take care of us and love us.